Absegami Football Players Keeping Heads Up

At 2-3 and with a tough schedule ahead the Absegami High School football team put itself in a huge hole when it comes to playoffs.

The Braves still have three weeks to add power points, but they need to win out and also get some help from the teams ahead of them.

The Braves host St. Augustine and Mainland during the next two weeks and travel to Hammonton the first weekend of November.

However, after last night's loss to Millville, some of the players expressed their belief they can still be a winning football team.

"We are going to get over this," said Absegami's David Hood. "We have to win from here on out. We can't lose anymore."

"A couple players were down, but have good senior leadership," Nate Ross said.

Absegami coach Dennis Scuderi Jr. believes his team will show the same fight it did at the end of Friday's game.

"At the end of the day, that's what football is all about," Scuderi said. "It's about perseverance. When you get knocked down you have to get back up. I say it to the kids that it's really a life lesson.

"(Friday night) we got beat. We got outscored, out hit, out everything. My job as head coach is to get us back on track. There is not a kid on this team I don't love. When we are down they keep fighting."

Keeping Up With Jones

Millville running back Alquann Jones was the man the Braves game planned for -- and for good reason.

Jones was on his way to another 200-yard performance on Friday night until an ankle injury took him out of the game in the fourth quarter.

However, it was not just Jones that hurt the Braves early in the game.

Jones didn't even touch the ball until Millville's second possession and the Thunderbolts seemed to be willing to share the ball with as many offensive players as possible early on.

Four other ball carriers received touches in the opening quarter and quarterback Shaq Lee also threw the ball four times in the first 12 minutes of the game.

That seemed to catch the Braves off guard.

"That took us out of our game plan," Scuderi Jr. said. "Our original game plan was to spy (Jones) and we did that. They were able to give the ball to other guys who contributed."

Jones eventually took over the workload rushing for 105 yards in the second half alone even though he didn't play the final six and half minutes.

Finding a Way to Help

Absegami running back Tyler Bing only had two carries in the opening half, but still made an impact.

Bing scored on an 87-yard kickoff return that sparked the Braves in the first quarter. He also added 59-yard return that helped set up Absegami's second touchdown.

Slow Start

The Braves were down 12 points less than three minutes into Friday's game.

Maybe against other opponents that's a deficit the Braves could overcome, but Millville's offense is just too explosive.

The Braves punted on their first possession and the Bolts needed just two plays to score. Absegami then threw an interception on its next drive and Millville capitalized with a six-play scoring drive.

Absegami did move the ball in the opening half, but turnovers and running backs slipping on the turf cost them.

The Braves needed to extend drives and keep the ball as long as possible. It didn't happen. The Braves scored just once in the opening half. The other touchdown came on a kickoff return by Tyler Bing.

Millville, which finished with more than 500 yards, scored on its first five drives, and it would have been all six until Jessie Oliver-Logan recovered a fumble at the 6-yard line.

“It’s about fundamentals,” Scuderi Jr. said. “We still have to block and tackle. We didn’t do a very good job of tackling tonight. I’m disappointed in the way we responded after the bye week. I’m 100-percent to blame for that. It’s my team and I have to do a better job.”